HAT CHECK

HAT CHECK

Something about the mood of LinuxWorld is different at every show. The booths and the technical sessions are becoming more similar all the time, but usually there is some kind of buzz spreading around – the hot news of the show – which is often a new initiative or a new company appearing at the event. Strangely, the big news this year wasn’t about a new company appearing – it was about a company not appearing. To the profound fascination of visitors, exhibitors, and the experts in the press room, Red Hat did not have a booth at this year’s San Fransisco LinuxWorld.

Several equally speculative explanations circulated through the halls. Although rumors spoke of an impending merger or acquisition, the prevailing opinion was that Red Hat was simply weary of fighting an arms race with much larger companies over high-profile booth space. Red Hat always had a bigger space than the various management appliance companies and antivirus vendors, but they never really competed with the lavish Babylonian gardens of IBM, HP, and Novell.

Booths, tools, toys, conference sessions, and birds of a feather – this year’s LinuxWorld provided few surprises. But a look beyond the routine revealed some emerging new perspectives on the state of Linux.